Since it could be argued that we are the sum of all our past experiences, and since I tend to love reading, learning, math, and science, it could be claimed that my educational experience was a success. While I would agree wholeheartedly with this assessment, it was not without its share of poor teachers and rough moments. I feel fortunate in the fact that I believe I was exposed to an abnormally high percentage of wonderful teachers in my High School career. From the science teachers who walked the line between staying focus and blowing off energy like champions, to the English teacher whose voice echos in my head anytime I write a paper ("Omit needless words"), the impact on my life cannot be understated.
While I had many teachers who instilled the love of learning in me, one of the biggest influences on my desire to teach comes from my High School math teacher, Mr Hammer. I had Mr. Hammer twice in my High School Career. The first time was as a sophomore for Algebra II, the second was for AP Calculus my Senior year. The most interesting part, and why Mr Hammer specifically is so memorable, is the year between his classes. The year I took pre-calculus with Mrs. Brand.
Growing up, math was always one of my favorite subjects. I liked the ability to combine and describe thins in terms of numbers and I liked the puzzles with a clear definition of right and wrong. I liked that it was challenging, logical, and the grading was mostly objective. I loved that everything followed logically from pre-defined rules and that memorization was, often, unimportant because answers could be derived. It didn't hurt that I was good at it. For all these reasons it should have been more upsetting to me when, in pre-calculus my Junior year, I was in danger of failing math for the first time and my teacher had told the department head that I was not competent enough for AP Calculus. Instead of upset, I was mostly just bored and tired of math for the first time ever. To this day, the only thing I remember doing in pre-calculus is homework and writing down other people's answer to homework from the board. I don't remember a single lecture, or even being lectured to. I don't remember anything we discussed, and I don't remember why it was or was not important to me. It is the nonexistent year in math.
Fortunately for me, the department head was Mr Hammer, and Mr Hammer ignored the recommendation and put me in AP Calculus anyway. He did this because he had already had me as a math student and recognized that I was sufficient at math but had a different learning style than was required to succeed in a class with the pre-calculus teacher. I remember many lectures from Mr. Hammer's class, as well as the jokes, the topics, and the learning. If I hadn't been placed in Calculus, I wouldn't have received college credit for calculus from the AP test, I wouldn't have been placed into the same science courses my freshman year (they had calculus as a prerequisite), and I wouldn't have followed to course trajectory that earned me a degree in Chemistry and made me want to share that degree with others. It is sometimes difficult to see a great teacher who cares about his/her students while in school, having an ineffective teacher to highlight the good certainly helps.
While I had many teachers who instilled the love of learning in me, one of the biggest influences on my desire to teach comes from my High School math teacher, Mr Hammer. I had Mr. Hammer twice in my High School Career. The first time was as a sophomore for Algebra II, the second was for AP Calculus my Senior year. The most interesting part, and why Mr Hammer specifically is so memorable, is the year between his classes. The year I took pre-calculus with Mrs. Brand.
Growing up, math was always one of my favorite subjects. I liked the ability to combine and describe thins in terms of numbers and I liked the puzzles with a clear definition of right and wrong. I liked that it was challenging, logical, and the grading was mostly objective. I loved that everything followed logically from pre-defined rules and that memorization was, often, unimportant because answers could be derived. It didn't hurt that I was good at it. For all these reasons it should have been more upsetting to me when, in pre-calculus my Junior year, I was in danger of failing math for the first time and my teacher had told the department head that I was not competent enough for AP Calculus. Instead of upset, I was mostly just bored and tired of math for the first time ever. To this day, the only thing I remember doing in pre-calculus is homework and writing down other people's answer to homework from the board. I don't remember a single lecture, or even being lectured to. I don't remember anything we discussed, and I don't remember why it was or was not important to me. It is the nonexistent year in math.
Fortunately for me, the department head was Mr Hammer, and Mr Hammer ignored the recommendation and put me in AP Calculus anyway. He did this because he had already had me as a math student and recognized that I was sufficient at math but had a different learning style than was required to succeed in a class with the pre-calculus teacher. I remember many lectures from Mr. Hammer's class, as well as the jokes, the topics, and the learning. If I hadn't been placed in Calculus, I wouldn't have received college credit for calculus from the AP test, I wouldn't have been placed into the same science courses my freshman year (they had calculus as a prerequisite), and I wouldn't have followed to course trajectory that earned me a degree in Chemistry and made me want to share that degree with others. It is sometimes difficult to see a great teacher who cares about his/her students while in school, having an ineffective teacher to highlight the good certainly helps.